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Uber cuts 3000 more jobs, closes 45 offices

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Re: Uber cuts 3000 more jobs, closes 45 offices

#191

Post by kikokikokiko »

aguyfromnb wrote: post #173
thoraway1010 wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ahh - the comment from the person with the multi-car garage, the tesla and the range rover. Walk me through what folks without good car / transit access should be using? If cab companies are "essential" then uber is essential and preferred to cab companies in many markets. A lot of folks on HN seems to be approaching this whole situation from the I have a ton of money, can work from home, have a car mental model.

> A lot of folks on HN seems to be approaching this whole situation from the I have a ton of money, can work from home, have a car mental model. You think poor people are using Uber to get around?

No, they are the ones driving it. And now they will be out of their job.

Re: Uber cuts 3000 more jobs, closes 45 offices

#192

Post by drstewart »

giglamesh wrote: post #143
andyjohnson0 wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I had to make this decision because our very future as an essential service for the cities of the world — our being there for millions of people and businesses who rely on us — demands it." This is only one sentence in an otherwise fairly measured email, but it nevertheless annoyed me given the context. Uber is not an "essential service". They made this decision so that they can stay in business to make money for th…

There is a very simple way to determine if a service is essential or not. If it existed 15 years ago it might be essential, but if it did not, then it is definitely not essential. Human civilization arose and thrived for thousands of years without ride-share. We'll be fine (better off actually) without it.

Well, you're right about one thing: that sure is a simple method.

Useful? No. Effective? No. Meaningful? No. But definitely simple.

Re: Uber cuts 3000 more jobs, closes 45 offices

#193

Post by bdcravens »

nostrademons wrote: post #46
setgree wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's gauche to say it on the day a bunch of people lost their jobs (and there's no need for the schadenfraude) but I think the underlying point is sane. Uber's business model is replacing FTEs in a a hidebound, regulated industry with gig workers (& good UX!). If you were forecasting how this company in particular would deal with a downturn, it's a reasonable guess that they'll try to do the same thing to their own w…

The reason why software companies don't generally hire contract software developers rather than bringing them on as FTEs is that they're less effective . Software development is a high-communication, high-trust activity; it's very helpful to be able to explicitly direct and manage the activities of your workforce, because otherwise they don't produce anything useful. For specific tasks that don't need to be high-trus…

I don't think this is accurate. I've worked several contracts in my life, often working alongside the company's FTE developers. In every situation, we were fully integrated into the team, with the same level of access, etc. We fully participating in meetings and planning. The contracts were several months. (one as long as 18 months; it only was cut short due to 9/11) I will admit these weren't strictly software companies, and in every one of these roles, I was a w2 employee of a staffing company, not a 1099. However, I was at least as effective as their regular team members; probably more so because I could be released far more easily.

Re: Uber cuts 3000 more jobs, closes 45 offices

#194

Post by dmode »

koblas wrote: post #148
Havoc wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Slightly off topic. What's tier 1/2/3 in the US? I had just heard that kind of system applied in China

San Francisco / Seattle / Boston / New York --- Austin / Salt Lake / Los Angeles / Portland / Atlanta --- Ann Arbor / Chicago / Minneapolis / Miami

Los Angeles, Tier 2 ? I would say it should be Tier 2, considering greater Los Angeles area has 14mn people

Re: Uber cuts 3000 more jobs, closes 45 offices

#195

Post by fatbird »

balls187 wrote: post #169
lykr0n wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uber has screwed over a lot of people in the past. I'm not going to cry for people who worked for a bad company getting screwed over by said bad company

Sure, but do you feel the same way about AirBNB, Google, Facebook, Apple, every major auto manufacturer, Tesla, Amazon, and myriad of other companies that behave in unethical ways? I can't think of a single tech company that hasn't engaged in some eye brow raising behavior. There was even some controversy with YCombinator funding a fantasy sports betting company.

I'm a little more nuanced in my analysis than the GP, but yes, I do feel that way in some degree about all the companies you mention, and how the employees have some incremental responsibility for the bad those companies do.

Offered rents in Vancouver have dropped 15% since the pandemic took hold and AirBnB became a dead business for a bunch of mini-hoteliers. If you helped build that software, then I hold you a little bit responsible for the crisis in affordable housing we've been struggling with, that AirBnB has contributed to.

If you work at Facebook, then I hold you a little bit responsible for the consequences of the 2016 U.S. election and Donald Trump's presidency.

Your share of the responsibility is likely tiny, and I'm not going act like you're a mass murderer. But at the end of the day you were part of the machine that left a trail of damage in its wake, and I won't ignore that just because you were merely a cog.

Re: Uber cuts 3000 more jobs, closes 45 offices

#196

Post by sida »

s1t5 wrote: post #147
sbuccini wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dara hinted in his first email that there were more layoffs on the way. I consider them to be a single layoff, one portion of which took more time to execute.

Isn't hinting the worst approach in that case though? I can't imagine that the additional uncertainty helped with staff morale.

Internally, Dara was very clear that the layoff would happen in 2 stages for the different organizations

Re: Uber cuts 3000 more jobs, closes 45 offices

#197

Post by jeremy_k »

mattwad wrote: post #171
0zymandias wrote: post #145

It looks like Dara is executing the Jack Welch & General Electric playbook [1]. Essentially, it comes down to "Be the #1 or #2 company in the market or exit" You can debate whether it was successful at GE. The criticism of Jack Welch was that his approach improved short-term financials, but he left a hollowed-out company to his successor that became irrelevant and lost value relative to the S&P. The way I see this pl…

> I worry the most about Scooters and AV as those are arguably core to urban mobility Scooters are a fad that was never needed. Bikes or mopeds like Revel are 10 times more useful. I don't think scooters replace anything of note, since you can pretty much walk the same distance. They're only fun for tourists and left in the sidewalk for everyone else to stumble over.

I would argue this isn't true. I lived in Santa Monica when the scooters came about and once they removed the helmet law I loved the utility they provided. I lived about 2 miles away from downtown Santa Monica, which is totally walkable and I love walking, but sometimes I wanted to meet up with someone in a more reasonable amount of time. Instead of having to order an Uber for such a short trip, I would check Bird or the Lyft scooters to find one close to me, jump on it, and be downtown in roughly 10 minutes. And they're fun to ride!

Now Santa Monica does have a great bike share infrastructure that I also used quite a bit, but nothing is more frustrating that getting on a well used bike and having the brakes hardly work or the crank constantly slipping as you push the pedal downward. Don't get me wrong, you can totally get a bad scooter that isn't running well, but I think I ran into more worn down bikes, likely due to the bike program having been around longer.

My 2 cents, the more options the better.

EDIT: Also wanted to note, Santa Monica has a lot of bike lanes, which made riding the scooters around much easier and safer from my perspective.

Re: Uber cuts 3000 more jobs, closes 45 offices

#198

Post by freeqaz »

economicslol wrote: post #165
thoraway1010 wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ahh - the comment from the person with the multi-car garage, the tesla and the range rover. Walk me through what folks without good car / transit access should be using? If cab companies are "essential" then uber is essential and preferred to cab companies in many markets. A lot of folks on HN seems to be approaching this whole situation from the I have a ton of money, can work from home, have a car mental model.

>have a car mental model. I suspect buying a reasonable used compact car is much more financially prudent than using Uber as you means of transportation. Maybe the calculus flips in a dense city like NYC but there's no way people who commute every day with Uber are doing so for cheaper than actually owning a car.

When I lived in SF parking was $400 per month, plus as a young male my insurance was $200+ per month.

Most of the time I could take a bus or public transit, but when I couldn’t (like buying groceries) then I’d use an Uber. It was significantly cheaper versus owning a car, and it was absolutely an “essential” service at that point in my life.

Re: Uber cuts 3000 more jobs, closes 45 offices

#199

Post by 0zymandias »

ping_pong wrote: post #177
0zymandias wrote: post #145

It looks like Dara is executing the Jack Welch & General Electric playbook [1]. Essentially, it comes down to "Be the #1 or #2 company in the market or exit" You can debate whether it was successful at GE. The criticism of Jack Welch was that his approach improved short-term financials, but he left a hollowed-out company to his successor that became irrelevant and lost value relative to the S&P. The way I see this pl…

"Short-term"? He was CEO for 20 years, and made it one of the most successful companies during that time. One would be very hardpressed to call GE of 2001 a hollowed-out company.

Jack Welch retired in 2001 after twenty years as CEO. "Upon his retirement from GE, Welch had stated that his effectiveness as its CEO for two decades would be measured by the company's performance for a comparable period under his successors"

If we use the long-term yardstick that Jack Welch suggested we use, he does not come out looking good. We are now at roughly the two-decade mark and GE is trading at the same price that it did in 1992 and 80% below where it was when he retired.

Re: Uber cuts 3000 more jobs, closes 45 offices

#200

Post by chrisseaton »

wdb wrote: post #178
sjf wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many, many people live out of the range of public transport. Not everyone can drive, private taxis _are_ an essential service.

Yes, I can't drive and still only take public transport. It's more convenient than getting a Uber in London. Even taking a black cab can actually be cheaper. So yeah, I fully aware that transportation is important. I wish that would be better covered.

> Yes, I can't drive and still only take public transport.

Lucky for you that this is an option. For many people less fortunate than yourself it is not an option and they rely on taxis such as Uber.

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